A Wedding Dress Made From a WHAT? Are You Kidding Me? (You Guys Are Gonna LOVE This Story!)

In August 1944, Maj. Claude Hensinger, a World War II B-29 pilot, and his crew were returning from a bombing raid over Yowata, Japan, when their engine caught fire. The crew was forced to bail out. Suffering from only minor injuries, Hensinger used the parachute as protection as he waited to be rescued. He kept the parachute that had saved his life.

When he proposed to his girlfriend, Ruth, in 1947, he offered her the material for her wedding gown, since silk and other fine fabrics were hard to find during the war. Ruth designed her wedding dress similar to one in the movie Gone with the Wind. Here’s the dress, which she wore on her wedding day on July 19, 1947.

Love.

The dress is one of the 137 million artifacts in the Smithsonian’s collection.

Which famous wedding dresses would you like to see up close and in person?

I’d love to see this one. And Jackie O.’s. And Grace Kelly’s. And Gwen Stefani’s. And Princess Kate’s. And ... I’d love it if a museum would do a special exhibit of famous people’s wedding dresses! (Preferably a museum in New York City, thanks!)